La Passacaglia

SSCS

Building Houses From Scraps

Orange Crush Mystery Quilt

Carolina Crossroads Mystery

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Looky what I got! From Nancy. Thanks! It's always good to know (despite what the children think) that you're cool! LOL

So the rules are:

1. Post about the award

2. Link back to the givee.

3. Place the award on my sidebar

4. Choose 10 blogs that I think are cool.

Well now that's the hard part isn't it. I use NetNewsWire for reading blogs and I currently have 131 on the list. Yikes! Which ones are coolest? All of them, or I wouldn't be taking time away from sewing to read them. :-)

So here are 10 somewhat eclectic choices, in no particular order, that you might...or might not...want to check out.

Brian Oh to be young, hip, and in The City.I can haz cheez burger I can't have a cat of my own but I hate to miss any of the lolcats. Too funny.Bent Objects It must be really interesting to live with someone whose mind works like his. Lots of talent!Tanya It's always lovely to read about Japan and to see her wonderful quilts.Anita It's great to see the quilts she's working on. I hope I can be half as good one day!Bonnie I need to thank her for the three mysteries and all the work she put in this year for me and for all of us quilters.I love to read Laila and May Britt's blogs. Not only do they make wonderful things and show such wonderful views of Norway, but they write in English. I'm a one language person (despite the efforts of my parents and teachers) and am always so impressed by the many folks who take the time to write in English or in multiple languages. So this is a shout out to all of them!Goodnight Raleigh Always interesting and a wonderful way to learn more about this new place I live in.Ikea Hacker In New Jersey I lived within striking distance of not one, but two Ikeas. How I miss them! Some of the items featured in this blog come under the heading of "people with too much time on their hands", but some of it's quite clever.

So that's it. Back to washing floors. Family is coming for Thanksgiving and I at least need to get most of the dog hair up! :-)

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Did you think I was lost? I probably am. Surrounded by fabric! LOL I'm madly sewing for Christmas so there isn't much I can show you. Let's see....

Treasure boxes maybe?

Egads. Did I actually piece something in these fabrics???

These are pretty. Can't tell you what they are for though.

Strawberries? And ladybugs?? In November???

Hmmmmm..... These are bright.

Ooooo. That print-out says Amy Butler.

I have finished a queen sized quilt and a wall hanging, a jacket, several items for swaps and other small things I can't tell about. I've also fulfilled some guild obligations. Like the November Block Party block they called Black Bean Dip with Blue Tortilla Chips. :-)

I also have a stack of Holiday Blocks to put together. I'm about half way through them. In October we buy block kits for $2 and bring them back with our names on them in December in hopes of winning the blocks for the whole quilt.

I also plowed through cutting up another pile of thrifted shirts and skirts. At least a movie's worth of cutting. :-)

Which resulted in this pile of plackets, collars and cuffs. Yikes!

I resorted my shelves of fabrics too, to make room for all the thrifted stuff. And of course while this is all going on I get interrupted regularly by furry creatures. Can't you hear them saying, "I've been so good all this time! Now pay attention to meeeeee!"

It's been cold here! It's only 22F this morning. Yikes! This is not why we moved south! Yesterday morning I was amazed to wake up to... Snow!

It only snowed for about an hour and disappeared when the sun came out but I enjoyed watching it while it lasted. There's Ivy trying to get a drink out of the frozen bird bath. :-)

In the mail yesterday I received my Polka Dot & Rick Rack swap surprise. Look over on the right side bar of my weblog page and you'll see where Jen got the picture of Lucy from. How clever is that! As well as a couple of neat magazines, dotty socks and a stack of polka dot charms. She says she cut them from 63 fabrics in her stash. Wow! That's some impressive stash! Thanks Jen. I'm thrilled!

Now last night I did sew something I can show you, something for myself. I started with this genuine Hawaiian shirt from the Guardian Angel thrift shop. I was amazed to find it. I doubt you get many showing up in thrift shops in North Carolina! LOL It's wonderful feeling fabric and wonderful colors.

And was just the right amount of fabric for making a bag!

I even managed to get the flap fabric to line up with the design on the body of the bag. And I wasn't even trying! Happy accident. I didn't have extra fabric for fussy cutting.

I couldn't resist sewing the shirt label on one of the inside pockets.

The smaller bag in the background is this one, the first one I made from Janice's pattern.

I made it with the leftover fabrics from something I made for my Polka Dot & Rick Rack swap partner. (The polka dots are in the lining.) I of course forgot to take a photo of what I sent...sigh. But! Rosemary has posted photos on her weblog. :-D

The bags are from this pattern by Janice Pope, our current guild president. She was at the Houston quilt market with her bags.

Oh dear. I think the furry creatures are wanting their breakfast. TTFN!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

What I should be doing is washing the floors, despite the fact that it's raining and they'll just get muddy again instantly....sigh. But...I'm taking a break for a few minutes.

Yesterday I baked some of Nan's Nana bread. Yum! But only after I realized I'd lost the recipe I'd printed out. So it took quite a while browsing through blogs to find it again. Typical me. LOL Notice how I shined up my cooktop for the photo? :-)

Then I made All-Bran bran muffins from another blogger's recipe but darned if I can find it online again. :-( The muffins are good!

This is the stuff I didn't get to last night.

See the mug? I was going to make a mug cake for myself but then realized I was out of eggs! I made the oatmeal cookies today and the Chinese cookies (chow mein noodles, butterscotch bits and peanuts)...and the mug cake...will have to wait.

Monday we had the chimney and stove cleaned. We've been using it pretty steadily so it seemed like a good idea before it gets too cold.

I also re-hung some pictures and things (finally) since the last painting project. I've got to learn to take photos straight! Sheesh. I assure you everything is straight on the wall! Sorry, I don't have time to edit them now.

Gosh...these really are lousy photos! This is my "chihuahua". The print is a StoryPeople by Brian Andreas. It says:

"I remember once I went to my great-grandmother's house. It was a big white house & it always smelled like slightly burned toast & raspberry jam. She had a picture of Jesus on the wall in her living room. She told me his eyes would follow you around when you walked. I told a friend about it a while ago. He nodded & said he used to have a Chihuahua that did the same thing."

It always makes me smile.

Frank!A pretty plate I got in Portugal.

I think everyone should have Dr. Seuss in their kitchen. Don't you? :-)

A drawing my ex bought at a silent auction (I think). It says "Dance to a Secret Song". Kinda cool.

My chicken plates.

A wonderful gift from Wellington. :-)

And just to prove I have been sewing....

And my Orange Crush! Done Done! :-) I took a photo of it stretched out on the bed but it didn't come out. I'll have to try again before I ship it off.

I also packed up some Polka Dot and Rick Rack goodness for my swap partner. Thanks to Sharon for organizing the fun!

Of course I forgot to take a photo before it all went in the box. I knew I would forget. It's a given! :-P

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Not yet anyway. Just when I think we've made progress I see something that shoots that idea down like a rocket. I just saw a TV commercial for One A Day Teen Advantage multivitamins. "For her healthy skin and his healthy muscle function." Yes they really did say that! GAG! The subliminal message is of course, once again, that girls are decorative and boys are functional. And according to the website these are the "top health concerns of moms and teens." Oh really?

On doing some quick internet research, I find I'm not the only one upset by this commercial. I have no issue with the differences between male and female...at any age. Each of us needs what is appropriate for our physiology. But couldn't they have come up with better hype for a product aimed at teens? Their web page isn't much better. Bayer should be ashamed.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

I sure hope that there is a decent senate candidate in North Carolina other than Kay Hagan or Elizabeth Dole. Frankly I don't ever want to hear their names again. The nastiness has gotten out of hand. Cat fight anyone? Sheesh.

It's basic PR (to say nothing of psychology). To get your message across, talk about the person you want people to vote for, not the other guy.

Don't political candidates realize their campaigns are an example of how they will handle issues and people while in office??? Now there's a frightening thought. There has got to be a better way of proving your worth to the public other than being so low. And people donate huge sums of money to make this crap possible.